VHS 




ADDRESS 



OF 



Senator D, W, Voorhees, 



FAVORING 



Hon, Joseph E. McDonald 



As the Democratic Candidate for President in 1834. 



Delivered before the Indiana Democratic Association at Wash- 
ington, D. G., April 17, 1884. 



Washington, D. C. 
Gray & Clarkson, Printers. 

1884. 



/ 




At the regular meeting of the Indiana Democratic Association, of 
Washington, D. C, April 17, 1884, Hon. Thomas R. Cobb submitted 
the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, The name of Hon. Joseph E. McDonald, of Indiana, has been promi- 
nently mentioned as a fit and available candidate for the Presidency ; therefore 

Resolved by the Indiana Democratic Association at Washington, That we recog- 
nize in the Hon. Joseph E. McDonald a patriot, a statesman, and a Democrat who has 
ever been faithful to his party and his country ; 

Resolved, That in the judgment of this Association the nomination of Mr. McDonald 
for the Presidency by the Democratic National Convention would establish harmony in 
the Party throughout the country and would result in the success of Democratic princi- 
ples at the approaching Presidential election. 

Pending the vote on the resolutions, Mr. Voorhees said — 

Mr. President : The resolutions just offered are of such importance that 
I trust I may without impropriety be indulged in a few observations. 

We are rapidly approaching an event which will practically determine 
whether the present ascendancy of the Republican party shall be made per- 
manent, or whether there is to be a wholesome change and long- needed 
reformation in our public affairs. If by the mistakes of the Democratic 
party at this time as to issues or men on the one hand, or the cohesive 
power of patronage and money on the part of the Republican party on the 
other, there shall be no change in our National Administration at the next 
Presidential election, then the long and indefinite reign of a corrupt and 
oppressive oligarchy will become an accomplished fact. The free, unpur- 
chased control of elections by the people will wane away and disappear, 
and the powerful few with class interests and consolidated wealth will per- 
vert this Government to their own purposes, and hold it as they hold their 
corporation leases, for a vast number of years, meaning forever. This 
view of the present situation is not confined to any one party. There is a 
very large element in the Republican party, which aspires to correct existing 
abuses, and longs for an opportunity to join in the work of a general and 
thorough reform. In fact, every intelligent person, however partisan his 
feelings may be, now concedes that an overwhelming majority of the Ameri- 
can people look* with peculiar dread and disfavor on a new and additional 



lease of power to the Republican party. It is the work of wisdom, there- 
fore, to inspire, if possible, that majority with a unity of purpose and 
action. In order to accomplish that great end, the party in whose name 
the battle is to be fought must present public policies insuring the safety of 
business, the development of our resources, the just protection of Ameri- 
can labor in all its branches, agricultural, mechanical, and manufacturing, 
the prosperity of commerce, and the stability of our currency ; and it must 
still further present the names of men whose lives, public and private, will 
constitute a guarantee in the public mind that they will so administer the 
affairs of government as to promote the general welfare of the whole people 
without respect to class, calling, race, or condition. The object of the 
resolutions now before, us as I understand them, is to present to the Ameri- 
can people for their highest confidence a distinguished citizen whose char- 
acter, career, and services will meet the requirements I have just stated. If, 
in this opinion, we are correct, then our action here to-night is upheld by 
the loftiest considerations of duty and of patriotism. 

Sir, there are many and powerful reasons which conspire to attract the 
attention and the confidence of the country at this time to Mr. McDonald 
as a candidate for the Presidency. His location is in the center of popula- 
tion, of productive wealth, and of controlling influences. The National 
census of 1880, now just emerging into light, reveals the West as the giant 
and governing power in this Republic for the present and future generations. 
Upon the resources, the development and prosperity of the Mississippi 
valley depend in large measure all other interests of this widespread and 
diversified country. The man who is imbued with the progressive spirit of 
that mighty region ; who is familiar with its vast and far-reaching capabili- 
ties, and wisely educated in its industrial requirements, cannot fail to rise to a 
high plane of statesmanship in dealing with the business principles of every 
other section of the Union. May we not fairly claim these advantages in 
behalf of our distinguished fellow-citizen? Joseph E. McDonald was born 
in the ranks of labor. He first saw the light of day on a farm near the 
banks of the Miami, in the great State of Ohio. His parents belonged to 
that strong middle class, whose industry has made the progress of mankind, 
and from whom have sprung more great names in history than from all the 
royal families and ducal palaces of the world combined. A knowledge of 
the wants and interests of laboring people was the first lesson Mr. McDonald 
learned in life, and it is the most important one a man can learn at any stage 




of his existence. In the sense of having wrought out his opportunity for 
education and advancement by the labor of his own hands from his early 
childhood to the beginning of his high professional career, he may be 
emphatically styled a self-made man. An apprenticeship to labor — physical, 
manual labor — is never lost on a capable, generous mind. It lays the 
foundations of human sympathy, broad and deep, and gives a keener insight 
into the requirements of a popular government than any other kind of in- 
struction. This kind of wisdom Mr. McDonald has in an eminent degree, 
and the plain people, without perhaps clearly defining the reason, under- 
stand that they are close to him and always present in his friendly thoughts. 
But, Mr. President, the resolutions speak of "Joseph E. McDonald, of 
Indiana," and as an Indiana Democratic association, let us glance at his 
career as our neighbor and friend, and in all things, as we know him far 
better than all the world besides. In 1826, when but seven years of age, 
and only ten years after the State was admitted into the Union, he took up 
his residence in the noble county of Montgomery, and from that day to 
this has never resided more than forty miles from his original home. He 
entered public life a mere youth, forty years ago, and has been under the 
blaze of observation and critical discussion ever since. T have been hon- 
ored with his intimate friendship more than thirty years, and if ever the 
faintest trace of a flaw in his integrity, or a single unmanly or unworthy 
trait in his character has ever been asserted by friend or foe, I and you and 
all of us are yet to learn the fact. In every relation of life his fidelity of 
nature has been most conspicuous. At the bar his simple word is the same 
as a bond wtth sureties. In the political field he is a faithful, confiding 
friend and a generous, fearless foe. His Scotch ancestors and clansmen at 
Culloden were not more intrepid with their claymores than is he when the 
hour of duty and of danger happen to fall together. In the social walks 
of life who has ever known a kindlier, purer, more upright nature ? You 
who are here and know Mr. McDonald as I know him will bear witness to 
what I say. I could not afford to wanton with the truth in your presence 
and in this family talk as it were. Joseph E. McDonald was never faith- 
less to a trust or a duty and never betrayed man. woman, or child. We, 
his neighbors at home ; we, his Indiana friends and associates ; we, who 
stand ready to advance him to the world's highest honor can say no less 
than I have said, and we have a right to say that much because it is the 
truth. 



6 

In regard to the political attitude of Indiana, in its bearing upon the selec- 
tion of a candidate for the Presidency, it may not be improper to say a few- 
words. More severe political battles have been fought there than in any 
other State in the Union, and the contest is always too close to admit of 
any mistakes with impunity by either party. I do not stand here to declare 
that no one but Mr. McDonald at the head of our ticket can carry Indiana 
in November next — far from it. I firmly believe that the National Con- 
vention which meets at Chicago in July, not in June, will nominate a candi- 
date, whether our favorite or not, who will receive the electoral vote of our 
State. The old ticket, with its memories of victory in the centennial year 
of 1876, and reviving a sense of the wrongs and frauds and unfair counts 
of 1877, can triumph in Indiana as it did eight years ago. There are other 
names which I might readily mention, but need not now, and under which 
victory can be achieved. We will not, therefore, go to Chicago to claim a 
nomination in order to save ourselves from defeat at home, but we may 
notwithstanding, point out the reasons why Mr. McDonald's nomination 
will make victory more certain in Indiana, while at the same time securing 
for the whole country an able and safe administration of its affairs. 

Indiana has its peculiarities as well as its greatness as a State. Its people 
are not only closely balanced in party politics, but their interests are so 
various and diversified, and take hold upon so many sources of wealth and 
development that they require the spirit of compromise and conservatism 
in their candidates as well as in their platforms. Indiana is not a whole- 
some latitude for extremists, for one-ideaed people with a hobby, for doc- 
trinaires who are always ready to sacrifice a practical good for the glory of 
a barren abstraction. All its lawful and legitimate interests are alike dear 
to its people. In wheat and corn, and all the products of the farm, Indiana, 
in proportion to area, surpasses all the other States, hence her agricultural 
interests must be carefully guarded. She has more miles of railroad and 
water lines of transportation than any other State according to size, giving 
rise to most important questions to all classes. Her people believe in indi- 
vidual self-government, and are, therefore, opposed to the guardianship, 
the distrust, and the confiscation of sumptuary legislation. Indiana is full 
of the richest and rarest resources as a manufacturing State, and is rapidly 
going to the front in that direction, justly claiming for all her laudable in- 
dustries the considerate care of her public servants. Her people are also 



busy in trade and inter-State commerce, and require from their govern- 
ment a full volume of safe and stable currency. 

I have presented these points in the history and condition of Indiana in 
order to say that, while there have been minor differences in our State con- 
cerning some of them, yet the nomination of Mr. McDonald will more 
readily and more certainly consolidate the strength of his own party and 
of the conservative elements tending in that direction in Indiana, than any 
other nomination now possible. 

Perhaps I may as well speak plainly, though very briefly, on a topic which 
is now too actively before the public mind to be ignored or overlooked even 
on a small occasion like the present. I undertake to say that there are no 
such differences in the Democratic party on the subject of the tariff as will 
not be settled satisfactorily at the Chicago Convention. Two years ago 
the Democracy of Indiana declared their position on that subject in their 
State platform and won the great victory of 1882 by nearly 12,000 major- 
ity. Here is the well-known tariff plank : 

"We demand a revision of the present unjust tariff. The Constitution 
of the United States confers upon Congress the power to establish a tariff 
for revenue, and as a just and proper exercise of that power we favor such 
an adjustment of its provisions, within the revenue standard, as will pro- 
mote the industries of the country and the interests of labor, without creat- 
ing monopolies." 

Sir, this is the latest authoritative expression of the Democratic party of 
Indiana on the subject to which it relates. Mr. McDonald stood upon it 
then ; he stands upon it now. It lead to victory two years ago, and will 
lead to victory again. I have not the slightest apprehension that any of its 
principles will be disturbed by the National Democratic platform to be laid 
down at Chicago. I believe on this subject as upon many others which 
will be in issue in the coming canvass, that the nomination of Mr. McDonald 
would, in the language of the pending resolutions, establish harmony in 
the Democratic party throughout the country. 

Sir, I need not dwell in this presence nor indeed~in the presence of any 
portion of the American people on Mr. McDonald's conspicuous ability 
and his proud public career. All that is now well-known history. As a 
lawyer he is the peer of the foremost in the courts, and as a member of the 
Judiciary Committee of the Senate he was second to none when he had 



L^ ARY 0F CONGRESS 




8 

013 785 853 8 

Thurman, Garland, Davis, and Edmunds for his associates, as *. iv, & — - 

tor his record is that of a thoughtful, careful man, coming to his conclu- 
sions with a ripe and mature judgment and displaying at every step the pow- 
erful and saving grace of great common sense. In fact, it is this last rich 
quality, in unusual abundance, together with his absolute fidelity of char- 
acter, which have won for him such lasting confidence from those who 
know him best. 

Mr. President, the action of our association to-night must not be mis- 
understood. This is a voluntary organization of gentlemen from Indiana 
who happen to be at the Capital for the time being. We assume no more 
weight for what is said here than would attach to the utterances of a like 
number of Democrats at home or anywhere else. Indiana has other 
honored and able sons, whose names have been mentioned for the first place 
in the gift of a free people. For twelve years I have followed the flag and 
fought for the success of one who is dear to the Democracy of Indiana, 
and whose name is now in all your thoughts. I would willingly have done 
so again if the ever varying and shifting currents of human affairs had not 
seemed to decree otherwise. It has been said that man is the architect of 
his own fortune. In a certain sense that is true, but how seldom is he the 
arbiter of his destiny ! How often those who by their talents and labors j 
deserve the highest honors of state and nation fail to obtain them ! But / 
this movement in behalf of Mr. McDonald is not made at the expense of the 
harmony of the Democratic party nor of old friendships in Indiana. The 
current of the opinion which is bearing him forward orginated outside of 
his own State, and his friends at home have simply watched its growth and 
stood ready to endorse him, as they have here on this quiet occasion, an*' 
as they will do again in the face of the country and of the world on t). 
8th of July at Chicago. 



? 



/ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




013 785 853 8 



Hollinger 

pH8.5 

Mill Run F3-1955 



